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Gustav Mahler once wrote:”In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music, meant to be listened to in a small space by a small audience”. Since that time classical music has grown and developed dramatically. The role of Austria in this development is so big, that sometimes you can even come across claims that classical music and Austria, in particular, Vienna, are synonymous. (Well, it is tempting to agree, but what to do then with fairy-tale landscapes, mouth-watering cuisine, skiing, outstanding spas, Freud and Red Bull, to mention just a few of other would-be-synonyms for Austria?)

Whether you consider Vienna to be its birthplace or not, classical music in Austria in all its imaginable forms, has an undeniably rich history and an exceptionally strong modern tradition, from the Vienna State Opera to the Arnold Schönberg Centre and beyond.

Chamber music, albeit only a small part of classical music landscape in Austria, remains one of the most intimate, deepest and most joyful experiences in today’s world of music. The list of Austrian composers is endless. It is humanly not possible for a few people to cover the entire depth and breadth of classical chamber music in Austria today.

We at Classical Music Austria would like to do what we could do best:

share with you the chamber music gems we found and fell in love with;

show you the jewels beyond the beaten track of tourist traps and commercialised performances;

take you to the places in Austria connected to the history of classical music in a most unique manner, but still not well known – for example, the Birthplace of the String Quartet;

More about Weinzierl and its MUSIKFEST

Weinzierl Palace near the town of Wieselburg (approximately 80 minutes drive from Vienna) is not well known internationally but has a very significant connection to chamber music.

It is here that

Joseph Haydn worked during his early years,

he composed his very first string quartets,

the annual Haydn Festival, MUSIKFEST SCHLOSS WEINZIERL takes place. You can read more about the history of the festival here.

The Altenberg Trio Wien, the founders of this festival, is a piano trio formed in 1994 in Vienna. The Tiro is named after a Viennese poet Peter Altenberg. Since its debut during the Salzburg Mozart Week in 1994, it is one of the few full-time piano trios in Europe.

The ensemble became trio-in-residence of Vienna’s Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Musikverein) where they perform an annual series of concerts in the Brahms-Saal. Their repertoire encompasses more than 250 piano trios, among them works that were composed specifically for and premiered by the Altenberg Trio, such as Douglas Weiland’s First Trio, opus 22 (1995) or the piano trio by the Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha (2007), which he dedicated to the Altenberg Trio.

In 1999, following the release of their recording of the complete Schumann piano trios, the Trio received the Robert Schumann Award of the City of Zwickau. Their recording of trios from Ives (Piano Trio), Copland and Bernstein (Piano Trio) won the Edison Award in Amsterdam in 2000.

Since the 2012/2013 season, the Altenberg Trio includes Christopher Hinterhuber, piano, and Christoph Stradner, violoncello, as new members. Amiram Ganz, violinist and founding member of the trio, continues to contribute his art and experience to the ensemble. Christopher Hinterhuber and Christoph Stradner together with Amiram Ganz stand for “Continuity in Change”.

About Us

In its beginnings, music was merely chamber music… Gustav Mahler

Classical Music Austria has been created by people who love classical music for people who share our passion. It doesn’t mean you won’t find opera or orchestra on CMA’s pages. But chamber music remains the main emphasis.

Blog

The same Mürzzuschlag. The same Kunsthaus. Something totally different – The Erlkings. Schubert songs, Liede, translated into modern English. Have you ever danced to Goethe? You have a chance – Wigmore Hall, London. 25th of May 2018.

Miracles happen when you least expect them. Would you join us for an evening of some baroque music? – ask friends. Of course. When? Second of November. Where? Muerzzuschlag. Not that I’ve ever heard the name of that place. Who is playing, what is the programme – I don’t know why we didn’t ask. Maybe, because we …

I talked to the neighbour. It is his last year at the university. He is very bright and very much into hospitality business (that’s his degree, which I am sure will be with distinction when the time comes next year). “What are you doing this weekend?”, – he asks. “Oh, do you know Hugo…” – I …